Weekend Pick: Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals at Beech Mountain

Beech Mountain is gaining a reputation as one of the premier mountain biking destinations in the Southeast, and the country for that matter. Hosting the Gravity National Championships in 2011 and 2012 put them on the mountain biking map, and they build on that success by hosting the Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals (officially the 2013 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships) this weekend. This is the second national championship event of the 2013-14 collegiate cycling season and will draw college mountain bikers from across the country to the North Carolina resort.

This is a three-day event, so there will be plenty of biking action throughout the weekend. Friday will feature downhill qualifying and short track cross-country. Saturday will be dominated by the cross-country and downhill competitions, and Sunday will wrap up with dual slalom and the new team relay event. The team relay is a new co-ed event that will give schools the opportunity to show off their depth of their men’s and women’s endurance squads on the same course.

“It is very spectator friendly,” says Beech’s Talia Freeman. “All of the events are staged around the base of the resort, so you can definitely watch easily from the base of the area. We also sell spectator lift tickets: you can buy a lift ride to the top if you want to see some of the upper sections of trails.”

There will also be an awards banquet and bbq dinner on Saturday night, that should prove to be a fun event. This is a great opportunity to see the best college riders in the country do their thing at one of the best riding locations on the East Coast. Don’t miss it.